In this week’s archives of the Cherokee Scout and Andrews Journal:
10 years ago – Nov. 18, 2015,
Scout: Staff Photographer Ryan Revock’s latest Community Portrait took a look at how football – a “staple activity,” as one player said – was helping shape the lives of boys growing up in Murphy.
- Henn Theatre owner Bill Grove was disappointed that the Murphy movie house wouldn’t be able to show the new Star Wars movie, The Phantom Menace, since the film wasn’t being made available in 35mm.
- Scout Publisher David Brown wrote about a member of his family, U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Robert Zahn, who was only 19 years old when he was killed during World War II in 1944 during what a fellow airman called “the greatest sky battle in the history of aerial warfare.”
Nov. 19, 2015, Journal: The Andrews varsity football team defeated Cherokee 26-14 in the first round of the state 1A playoffs. Senior lineman Willie Parker was back for the Wildcats, and he made it count with strong play on both sides of the ball.
- The basketball court and gymnasium at Andrews High School were renamed the Kenneth Solesbee Athletic Center and Kenneth Solesbee Court on the recommendation of Principal Lance Bristol. Solesbee was a coach with the Wildcats for 44 years.
25 years ago – Nov. 22, 2000, Scout: An Andrews woman who said she witnessed her neighbor’s dog killing her calf, and was then chased up a tree by the animals, filed a lawsuit in an attempt to keep the dogs from roaming free. “As it stands, I am being held prisoner on my own property,” Dana Luther said.
- Morning and afternoon show showers left 1-3 inches of the flaky white stuff across Cherokee County. The unexpected storm left more than 6,000 Nantahala Power & Light customers without electricity.
- Many communities had their own columns regularly published in the Cherokee Scout, including views from Beaverdam/Unaka, Culberson, Hiwassee Dam, Peachtree, Ranger and Poor House Mountain.
Nov. 23, 2000, Journal: Traffic along U.S. 19/129 near Topton slowed to a crawl as law enforcement officers and prosecutors basically re-enacted the scene of a standoff that took place in May. Update: The man arrested after that standoff, David Nelson, reportedly killed himself last month after officers were closing in on another arrest.
- The Nantahala boys basketball team won its third catfight game to open the season by bearing Cherokee 59-53. Co-captain Jerris Passmore led the way for the Hawks with 21 points and 13 rebounds.
50 years ago – Nov. 20, 1975,
Scout: A state survey overwhelmingly recommended consolidating Andrews and Murphy high schools. It took district officials more than 10 months to release the findings, which have been ignored since then.
- Charles Ronald Howell, 45, of Murphy, died at 1 a.m. on a Sunday when his vehicle ran head-on into a concrete abutment on a narrow, old-fashioned bridge over U.S. 19/129. Howell was killed on impact.
Nov. 19, 1975, Journal: A few nostalgic folks climbed to the knob at the west end of Andrews for one final panoramic view of the small Valley town before the mountain was torn down for the U.S. 19/64/74/129 bypass project.
– Publisher David Brown